Robotic devices are used in a variety of industries, such as manufacturing, medical, safety, military, exploration, and/or other. Robotic “autonomy”, i.e., the degree of human control, varies significantly according to application. Some existing robotic devices (e.g., manufacturing assembly and/or packaging) may be programmed in order to provide desired functionality without further supervision. Some robotic devices (e.g., surgical robots) may be controlled by humans.
Robotic devices may comprise hardware components that enable the robot to perform actions in 1-dimension (e.g., a single range of movement), 2-dimensions (e.g., a plane of movement), and/or 3-dimensions (e.g., a space of movement). Typically, movement is characterized according to so-called “degrees of freedom”. A degree of freedom is an independent range of movement; a mechanism with a number of possible independent relative movements (N) is said to have N degrees of freedom. Some robotic devices may operate with multiple degrees of freedom (e.g., a turret and/or a crane arm configured to rotate around vertical and/or horizontal axes). Other robotic devices may be configured to follow one or more trajectories characterized by one or more state parameters (e.g., position, velocity, acceleration, orientation, and/or other). It is further appreciated that some robotic devices may simultaneously control multiple actuators (degrees of freedom) resulting in very complex movements.
Users may utilize robots that provide functionality out of the box (e.g., pre-programmed). Some users may train a robot with supervised learning to perform a task (e.g., navigation, manipulation, and/or other tasks).